Writing quotes
30.7K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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"I like to write short stories more because I never met a writer who wasn't lazy. And a short story is, by its very definition, short. It is something that generally you can turn out in a week to two weeks depending on how well it goes for you. But, at the same time, it gives the same satisfaction of creating a complete world."
"I still think that of all the people doing top fiction today, John D. MacDonald is the best.He was my model as a kid. If there are people out there that want to write, all you need to do is read 20 of his stories to get an idea what it takes to make a story kick over."
"I started writing seriously when I was about 12. I am always in the mood."
"I don't want to write every week, it's too much trouble, and I shall only write when I want something. If you think I'm sick when I don't write, you can send for me to come and tell you."
"The process of creating is related to the process of dreaming although when you are writing you're doing it and when you're dreaming, it's doing you."
"Maybe I feel like I'm writing songs that don't need to be saved or made more interesting by endless overdubs and studio tricks...maybe - remember, where I am with songwriting I have never been before - sparkly guitars and overdubs I've done (and will do again - see instrumental record in above answer)"
"Goal-getting matters. And writing down the brave acts and bold dreams you intend to accomplish will provide the spark to get them done."
"Writing is a lot like making soup. My subconscious cooks the idea, but I have to sit down at the computer to pour it out."
"I don't really have the gift of the sustained narrative that you need to write a book. I've tried a couple of times, and it just doesn't work. But I get some good passages, so what I'm going to do is just take sections out of them."
"When I was growing up, the exam system didn't allow you to write fiction, so you never did."
"I tend to plan as I write. And I want to leave myself open and the character open to keep on going until it seems to be the time to stop."
"I write short stories when a little idea occurs to me, that I know isn't a part of a novel that will stand by itself and should be concentrated."
"Schools don't really allow failure and yet it's part of any endeavour, not just writing."
"I don't think comic timing is the same as music timing, but I definitely find that I've learned from just writing in general that songs can be narrative without having a story."
"Be undeniably good. When people ask me how do you make it in show business or whatever, what I always tell them & nobody ever takes note of it 'cause it's not the answer they wanted to hear-what they want to hear is here's how you get an agent, here's how you write a script, here's how you do this-but I always say, “Be so good they can't ignore you.” If somebody's thinking, “How can I be really good?” people are going to come to you. It's much easier doing it that way than going to cocktail parties."
"I don't think anyone is ever writing so that you can throw it away. You're always writing it to be something. Later, you decide whether it'll ever see the light of day. But at the moment of its writing, it's always meant to be something. So, to me, there's no practicing; there's only editing and publishing or not publishing."
"I never had a movie that I wanted to do turned down in my whole life. I always write the script first so it speaks for itself."
"To me, torture would be, "I can't think what to write in the next sentence. I'm stuck." Torture would be if you didn't have the next idea."
"Stand-up life is really hard. At one point, I got so paralyzed I could write five screenplays before I could write three jokes for stand-up. Later, I've finally allowed myself to relax quite a bit, to think I can do it because I've done it in the past. The pressure to come up with the material is the same but the anxiety about whether I can do it is gone."
"I think films are about having a good time, so I don't know that there's a message. The message of a film is always what a critic writes, and the fun of a film or the emotion of a film is what the audience feels."
